he will struggle and attempt to break free because he wants to walk around on his own.

Height

Haven’t taken his height for some time now, but he is definitely growing taller. He can reach for stuff on our dining table already. Sometimes I look at him fast asleep in his cot and am amazed at how much he has grown!

Teeth

Still eight. But he is VERY excited about brushing his eight teeth every day now I taught him to hold the toothbrush under running tap water and thereafter, moving the bristles back and forth in his mouth. However, I sometimes catch him biting the bristles instead of brushing with them.

Motor Skills

Can lead us to wherever he wants to go. For example, if he wants to eat yogurt, he will take us by the hand, and lead us to the refrigerator. Sometimes, he will even take my hand and place it on the fridge handle.

He is able to correctly put in more shapes into his shape sorter. I have noticed him putting in the red circle, green flower and yellow oval, to name a few.

Loves running around in wide open spaces. Ah Kongs and Ah Mas are advised to be cautious because he will outrun them.

Communication and Social Skills

Ethan has learnt how to associate certain actions with certain things, to the point of sometimes imitating what we do:

If he grabs hold of a key (house keys, car keys), he will walk towards a door and try to put the key into the keyhole.

If he grabs hold of a pen or pencil, he will imitate writing on a piece of paper. Sometimes he will take my little red journal and pretend to write on it.

He will take the telephone receiver and put it to his ear, while blabbering away. When we say “Hello..?” he will take whatever he is holding and place it to his ear. If his hands are empty, he will just put one hand to the ear.

He has learnt how to associate the couch and the bed with drinking milk. When I sit on the couch, he will request for milk. Or he will take me by the hand and lead me to the room when he is ready to sleep.

He has attained the stage of the Terrible Twos, albeit a few months early. Some traits we have noticed are:

When he is riding in our car, he will start screaming in complaint when the car slows down or comes to a halt. At times his screams are so high-pitched I have to cover my ears.

When we want to carry him when he does not want to be carried, he will try to run away. Other methods of escape he has employed are:

Screaming in protest

Crouching on his front commando style, so it is very difficult for us to carry

Struggling and kicking

One of the things he is learning is animal sounds. When I say “The cow goes?”, he will say “Mmmmm” (sounds like Moo). But when I say “The dog goes?”, he will also say “Mmmmm”. I need to work on this still 😛

He can say a few *words* now. He is not very consistent in saying them yet, but we are seeing some progress in this arena:

Mommy (yesterday morning, I woke up startled when I heard Ethan saying loudly and clearly “Mommy!” He was still fast asleep and dreaming though)

Daddy (last week, he greeted Daddy at the door after Daddy’s futsal game with a cheerful, “Hi Daddy!”)

Lolilolilo… (we don’t know what this is yet, but we suspect it is Ethan’s attempt at imitating some singing on TV. He says this when he hears the StarWorld theme song and also some Indian songs)

Pecah pecah pecah… (at first we thought he was saying Pete’s name, but we are still not sure now)